Unskilled Labor During The Industrial Revolution

Following the Civil War, the United States transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted settlers worldwide. America developed into a land of factories, corporate enterprises, and industrial workers. A surge in immigration supplied these necessary workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The industrial revolution is fundamentally linked with the rise of factories and the decline of skilled artisans in manufacturing. Most will agree that factories were comprised mostly of unskilled labor. A trademark of the early factories was its utilization of unskilled workers. During this century, more than 33 million people entered the ports of the United States. Immigrants

from Europe came in massive waves until the era of open immigration ended with the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic tensions were created. Labor, and race relations were questioned.
There were several aspects of industrialization, which affected society, the economy, and politics. One these was America’s transformation from an agricultural to an industrialized nation. This was a major departure from the pre-Civil War culture. For several decades prior to the Civil War, the North was forced to delay or compromise several of its national economic policy objectives due to Southern opposition and the strong position the Southern states held in the Senate. The South remained largely agricultural, with its overall industrial production being less than half that of New York State, so naturally they opposed any legislation that would minimize or diminish the livelihood of its constituents. As soon as the Southern states seceded Congress began enacting their delayed agenda ("Industrialization," 1999, para. 2). Congress raised tariff rates (Morill Tariff of 1862) and funded three (3) transcontinental railroads (Transcontinental Railroad Act). Even though the U.S. economy shifted to a more industrialized society, the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, expanded agriculture westward to feed the growing populations of industrial cities.
Another aspect of industrialization that affected which affected society, the economy, and politics was innovation. Innovation was a key component to the economic growth of the nation following the Civil War. In 1815, the Patent Office issued 173 patents, however by end of 1897, it had issued 45,661. Innovation flourished during that time period with patents being issued for inventions like faster looms and spindles for textiles manufacturing, as well as new processes for steel manufacturing ("Industrialization," 1999, para. 5).
Lastly, advances in transportation and communications also significantly contributed to those aspects of industrialization that affect society, the economy and politics. As a matter of fact the railroads was one of the central industries of the Industrial Revolution. With the support of the federal government, railroad development leapt from approximately 30,000 miles of track to more than 250,000 miles.
Groups affected by industrialization:
The destruction of the Native American culture is deeply connected to the Industrial Revolution; specifically the building and expansion of the railroads across the western part of the United States. Two notable incidents against Native Americans were, “The Sand Creek Massacre and the Dawes Severalty Act. In November 1864 in the Colorado Territory 700 U.S. Troops killed 70 - 163 Cheyenne, Arapaho and Black Kettle Indians under the command of U.S. Army Col. John Chivington. For years, the United States had been engaged in conflict with several Indian tribes over territory. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 had given the Indians extensive territory, but the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1858 and other factors had persuaded the U.S. to renegotiate the terms of the treaty. The new treaty, the Treaty of Fort Wise reduced the size of their reservation land to about 1/13th of the original amount. Most of the Indians killed were women and children, and many of their bodies were mutilated ("Sand Creek," n.d., p. 1). The Dawes Severalty Act was signed to end tribal control of reservations and divide their land into individual holdings, further taking lands that once belonged soles to Native Americans (Landry, 2014, p. 1).
African-Americans found themselves at the heart of the situation, as they were one of the major catalysts that led up to the war. By the 1930s one million African Americans had migrated from the South to Western and Northern communities looking for occupations and to escape Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system, which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and Border States. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second-class citizens. The Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America; treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy ("Jim Crow," n.d., p. 1). In addition an African American by the name of Homer Plessy broke a Louisiana law by refusing to sit in a Jim Crow car because he believed it violated his constitutional rights. However, in 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine finding that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th or 14th Amendments (Hstory.com Staff, 2009, p. 1).
Prejudices weren’t limited to African Americans during the Industrial Revolution. The Chinese received a crimpling blow with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This law restricted their immigration into the United States. The Chinese almost single-handedly built the American Rail systems, but despite their significant contributions and perseverance, Congress passed the exclusion act to appease American worker demands and concerns about maintaining white “racial purity”. The law suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declare the Chinese workers already in the country were ineligible for naturalization. To make matters worst, the act was renewed in 1892 for another ten years and this time Chinese immigrations was mad permanently illegal (History.com Staff, 2009, p. 1). If this wasn’t enough, there was the case of Wong Kim Ark v. U.S. case in which he was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents temporarily living in the U.S. operating a legitimate business. Years after the parents had returned to China, Wong Kim decided to visit his family and returned back to the U.S. without incident, however upon his return to the states from a second trip he was denied entry back into the U.S. because it was determined that under the Chinese Exclusion Act he could not be a U.S. citizen. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in Wong Kim’s favor stating that a person born in the U.S. who has not renounced his / her citizenship is in fact a U.S. citizen, and in this case the Chinese Exclusion Act does not apply ("U.S. v Wong Kim," n.d., p. 1).
Child labor issues were prevalent during the Industrial Revolution.

Many children came to work with their families to helped support the family. Child labor began because factories and mills needed people to work for them that accepted decrease wages, increased hours, and people with small hands to work the mills. By 1880, 32.5% of males (ages 10-15) and 12.2% of females (ages 10-15) were in the labor force. By 1910 nearly 2 million children were in the work force. Employers relished having children on their payrolls, as they were cheap unskilled labor. Children often worked in hazardous occupations under appalling working conditions without any advocate to speak on their behalf. Child were often beaten and deliberately denied an education for fear that once educated they might strike for higher wages. The Keating-Owen Act was one of the most influential child labor laws, establishing important standards regarding child labor. As a result, no child under the age of 16 could work in mills or factories. Other advocates like the National Child Labor Community (NCLC) also helped to establish child labor reforms (Child Labor,

2008).
Women too, suffered inequalities during the Industrial Revolution. Between 1830 and 1860, women remained a key factor in the textile industry. Women were typically poorly paid, making $3.00 to $3.50 per week, which was more than they would make working at home on the farm. Women clearly wanted the ability to earn their own money without their families support. Wages afforded them the opportunity to save a little something for the future, and if need be to send money home to their families to help support them. Women generally liked being away from the drudgery of farm life. Earning their own money and living on their own was very liberating, despite the harsh conditions of the factories. The crowded, all-female environments of textile and garment factories created a feeling of community amongst women ("Women’s History," n.d., p. 5). However, being a woman in any workforce during that era made them a minority, and minorities by default normally received inequality regarding pay and working conditions. This industry was no different. Women, both immigrant and black took advantage of domestic service work in the cities, working for private homes taking in laundry, and working as chambermaids in hotels. They sowed hats, did textile piecework, and made shoes to make ends meet. As in the country, urban home laborers tended to be married women with children. Their extreme dependence on the income from home labor often made them targets of exploitation ("Women’s History," n.d., p. 4)¬¬.
The industrial revolution affected the lives of average working Americans regarding both their working and living conditions. In the factories laborers worked long hours performing tedious work often twelve hours a day, six days a week. Between 1800 and 1900 an average of 35,000 workers died each year on the assembly lines. Their living conditions were just as appalling as many workers, wanting to be close to their jobs migrated to the cities and found refuge in over-crowed buildings with other workers. Normally the factory or business owners owned these buildings and took advantage of their employees but over-charging them for these rooms. These employees might be considered the lucky ones as some employees lived on the streets wherever they could find refuge.
Immigration was a factor in Urbanization. Business and industrialization centered on the cities. The ever-increasing number of factories created an intense need for labor, convincing people in rural areas to move to the city, and drawing immigrants from Europe to the United States. As a result, the United States transformed from an agrarian to an urban nation. The U.S. experience immigration primarily from Europe, but also included the Irish, Italians, Germans and Chinese. Poor, immigrants often lived in dirty, crowded conditions and worked unskilled jobs in potentially dangerous factories. The flow of immigration was controlled by politicians, many of which who were on the take with the businesses factories needing workers on a quid-pro-quo relationship ("Immigrants / Urbanization," n.d., p. 1).
Prior to the Industrial Revolution there was the Upper class. They were the wealthiest of Americans. But the Industrial Revolutions created two new classes: the middle class and the working class. For the poor and working-class people, their lives changed, but didn’t necessarily improve. For centuries before the industrial revolution, the lower classes had earned their living through jobs in agriculture; now they worked in factories. Because factory work was usually easier than working in the fields, women and children joined the workforce in huge numbers. Wages, though, were very low, and even with an entire family working, it was hard to earn a decent living. Furthermore, the working conditions were often filthy, dangerous, or both. At the very least, the work was repetitive and menial in nature. As families needing jobs sought work in factories, they swarmed into cities, and the cities became overcrowded and rife with disease. Children who worked all day did not go to school, and so did not receive an education or advance themselves (Lobley, n.d., para. 4). As for the middle-class the middle class saw enormous benefits from the industrial revolution. The growth of new businesses and factories created thousands of new jobs. The middle class itself grew in size as occupations like merchants, shopkeepers and accountants allowed the working class to lift themselves into higher social levels. As these workers earned more, they were able to take advantage of the newly affordable amenities like furniture and fine clothing, giving themselves a comfortable life. They were also able to educate their children, so that their social standing would be maintained or even rise with the next generation (Lobley, n.d., para. 3).